I am relatively new to smoking...been cooking on my WSM 22.5 for about 8 months. Today I am going to do a rack of baby backs, about a half a dozen each bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks, plus a couple of skinless boneless breasts. Rather than fire up the smoker, I plan to do these on the OTG 22.5.
I plan to contain the fire to the left with a small water pan above and the meat to the right...building a foil wall extending above and below the grate. I am thinking that the ribs may only take about 1.5 to 2 hours to cook with no foiling and, while they are resting, the chicken may take 45 minutes or so. Does this sound about right? I have never smoked chicken other than whole beer-can style, and never skinless or boneless like the breasts. With the legs/thighs, I am shooting for a crispy bite-through skin so I know I'll need to ramp up the heat.

Also...would it be better to put the water pan on the charcoal grate beneath the chicken than to have it on the cooking grate above the fire?

Thanks to any and all who can offer some insight regarding this evening's cook.

Hello. Welcome. I see this is your first post. Please take some time and swing over to Roll Call and introduce yourself so that we may give you a proper "Hello". All info you can provide us with such as smoker type, location and so on will help us answer any questions you may have. As for your question: I am sure by now the party is over. I am sorry none of us saw your post earlier. We do miss some from time to time. I hope all went well and I hope we might be given a second chance. Glad to have you with us. Keep Smokin!